La La Anthony recently sat down with Charlamagne Tha God for The Hollywood Reporter’s ‘Emerging Hollywood’ series and opened up about a variety of topics including her “incredibly hard decision” to leave her marriage to NBA star Carmelo Anthony, pivoting into acting, and more.
In regards to her high-profile marriage and divorce to Melo, the 39-year-old said staying in the marriage would have been easier, however, she had to make a decision for herself. She said that being able to leave amid the rumors showed her that she could do anything.
“I think that stepping away from that marriage was such an incredibly hard decision for me, but it made me realize there’s nothing I can’t do,” she said.
She continued, “Staying is easier. Staying is easier. Walking away is harder. Staying in your comfort zone– what you know, your house… your kid is happy cause their parents are together– that’s easier. Walking away on your own and trying to rebuild a life by yourself… I was with him when he was 19 years old, like that’s all I’ve known. To step away from that and try to build my own life and still keep my sanity and keep things normal for my son who only knew his mom and his dad together– that wasn’t the easier decision, but I had to make a decision for myself. So now it’s like, wow, if I could do that, I could do anything.”
Today, she describes her relationship with Melo as “great co-parenting.”
During her sitdown with C Tha God, La La also touched on her acting career and friendship with rapper and TV series creator, 50 Cent, who she says has opened so many doors for her. The former TRL host has been killing it on hit shows like Starz’s Power and BMF as well as Showtime’s The Chi. She also discussed having to prove herself to TV producers who doubted her as an actor.
“A lot of times, it’s like, ‘Well you didn’t come from this. You were a VJ or a radio person. You don’t really do this.’ And it took me really going to acting school, classes, working on these shows — to show people I really do this. And I can really do it to a high level. And it took things like even getting nominated for the NAACP award for my work in The Chi to be like, this is really happening,” she said.
La La also touched on her hope to find love again, identifying as Afro-Latina, her career at MTV, and more.
